The smartmontools package contains two utility programs (smartctl and smartd) to control and monitor storage systems using the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology System (S.M.A.R.T.) built into most modern ATA and SCSI hard disks. It is derived from the smartsuite package, and includes support for ATA/ATAPI-5 disks. It should run on any modern Linux system.
Luke R. informs us that,
[smartmontools] is a an excellent set of utilities for monitoring and predicting failures in IDE and SCSI hard disks. Most people aren't even aware that a BIOS provides the SMART service to detect future disk errors, and you can pull this information and get alerts using the smartd daemon.
I had no idea.
More information on this package can be found on the Debian web site.
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